


Do you have friends, Martino?

by kitchournas



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabbles, Episode 2.05, Episode 2.08, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Multiple Pov, and people caring about Marti, episode 2.06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-06 07:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17341073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitchournas/pseuds/kitchournas
Summary: A collection of drabbles about people caring and/or worrying about Marti written while season 2 was airing and that I am only getting around to posting now. Some are missing scenes, some were speculation which are now canon divergent starting with episode 5 and onward. Currently features:Chapter 1: The boysquad after Covitti's birthday (canon compliant)Chapter 2: Marti & Gio in gym class, after the party, guest starring Boccia (canon divergent)Chapter 3: Elia & Gio after "Effettivamente" (canon compliant)Chapter 4: Marti & Eva after "Patatine e Marmellata" (canon compliant)Chapter 5: Gio & Marti after "Namacissi" (canon compliant)





	1. The Party

**Author's Note:**

> *Shows up two months late with drabbles and an outdated meme*  
> Tags will be updated with future chapters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the immediate aftermath of Covitti's party.

Neither of them says a thing for a minute after Martino storms off inexplicably. They watch him go in shock, helpless. Elia is the one who breaks the silence. He turns to the others to try and convince them to go after him. He sounds frantic and worried, and Gio thinks he must feel terribly guilty for letting himself be baited by Marti’s words and for shoving back at his friend. Luca tries to calm him down, to tell him that they should probably let him blow off whatever has obviously been building in Martino for the past few months. They both turn to Giovanni as if deferring to his expertise.

But Gio doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand or recognize the Marti who refuses to joke, eat or even smile with them, who lashes out for no apparent reason, who goes after Elia or who pushes Gio off himself with enough rage to send him to the ground. He stands there, thoughts rushing and absentmindedly rubbing his wrist. He can vaguely feel that it hurts from breaking his fall but it is nothing compared to the pain of seeing this look in his best friend's eyes or of hearing him spit Eva's name like an insult.

Elia calls his name, which finally draws his attention away from where Martino disappeared what feels like ages ago. But he still has no answer, so he shrugs.

“I don’t know. I'm not really in the mood to party anymore. I think I’m going to head home.”

The others nod and they get their bikes back. They quickly go their separate ways with barely a goodbye.

 

In his room, Giovanni finds himself sitting on his bed, staring at his phone. He opens the Contrabbandieri group chat and rereads their last few messages. He cannot find anything to type and its contents are not answering any of his questions, so he gives up and switches to his conversation with Martino. They have not been talking as much as they used to and not for the first time, he finds himself wondering how much he missed or how much Martino kept from him, why he would feel the need to lie about where he has been and what he has been doing.

His thumbs hover over the keyboard as he wavers between, “How are you,” “What’s happening to you,” and a more direct “What the fuck, dude?”

In the end, he gives up and throws the phone back on the comforter with a sigh. Maybe Luca was right, maybe Martino needs time. Maybe he will find a way to talk to his friends. Giovanni really hopes he does, because right now, he has no idea what to do anymore to help his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Casually bringing back episode 5 angst like we haven't suffered enough already.


	2. Gym Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most of the things Martino does these days seem to happen in a daze. Ever since Friday night, everything feels off and distant, and he is basically going through the motions. His mom has been hovering more than usual and desperately trying to make him talk. But it feels like there is just so much that he doesn’t even know where to start. Gym class is no exception, but it does seem like a whole new circle of hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, remember when we were so worried around episode 5 because Marti was not eating? (No? Just me?) And before we met Dr. Spera, some people were speculating that Boccia would play the role of the nurse, and I really liked this theory, so this happened. This also assumes that there’s no hiatus and Martino is back in class after Covitti’s party.  
> Also, to be completely honest, I’ve since learned that Italian high schools do not usually have nurses. But sometimes, you just have to ignore reality, so my apologies to Italy for taking some liberties and spreading lies.

Most of the things Martino does these days seem to happen in a daze. Ever since Friday night, everything feels off and distant, and he is basically going through the motions. His mom has been hovering more than usual and desperately trying to make him talk. But it feels like there is just so much that he doesn’t even know where to start.

Gym class is no exception, but it does seem like a whole new circle of hell. He is running around the room with the rest of the class as a warmup, but he feels dizzy and he thinks he may be shaking. He is well aware that he has never been particularly athletic, but he is in better shape than that. Or at least, he should be. When dots start dancing in front of his eyes, the room seems to starts spinning and he loses his balance. He bumps into another student who groans in response and a few people take their distance from him. He staggers and his hand grabs for the nearest support and finds the wall.

The teacher’s voice rings over the muffled conversations and the shuffling of sneakers.

“Rametta, what are you doing?”

Martino wants to answer but he really needs to make the room stop spinning first somehow, so he focuses on that for the moment, hiding his face in his hands to better ignore his classmates and supporting himself against the wall. The teacher’s voice speaks again, much closer this time.

“Hey, Martino, what’s wrong?”

There is a strong hand on his arm, supporting him, and the voice again.

“Jesus, you’re white as a sheet, come over here. Keep running, the rest of you, give him some air.”

Martino peeks above his fingers to find that the other students have crowded around him. But Mr. Boccia leads him away from them and to a seat at the other end of the room. He is still holding his arm and a little voice at the back of his mind whispers that maybe it should make him uncomfortable. But instead he finds the presence comforting. He finally sits down with relief and puts his head back in his hands, hoping everything will go back to normal. Mr. Boccia crouches down by his side.

“Okay. I’m going to ask you a couple of questions, just give me a yes or a no, okay?”

Martino nods vaguely, hoping it will be answer enough. It seems to be as Mr. Boccia continues.

“Good. Has this happened to you before?”

Martino shakes his head just enough to be seen without making things worse.

“Have you eaten anything today?”

He shakes his head again. He hasn’t been very hungry lately.

“How about yesterday?”

He doesn't answer and tries to think back to the day before. He must have eaten something at some point, but neither he nor his mother had really been up to cooking or going grocery shopping, and the entire weekend is sort of a blur. Beside him, Mr. Boccia sighs.

“Yeah, that’s a no. Stay here.”

Martino wants to ask where he could possibly go but it seems like too much effort. He does look up slowly to find that the room is no longer spinning and the dots have disappeared. Mr. Boccia is coming back toward him holding a backpack.

“Garau, I didn’t tell you to stop.”

Martino’s eyes go to the group of students still running laps, most of whom are looking at him as they run past, until he finds Giovanni treading the line between walking and running at the back of the group, also looking at him. Elia is next to him and they are both frowning. Martino has not spoken to either of them since Friday, has been ignoring their messages and avoiding them for two days, mostly out of shame and guilt, so he doesn’t know what to do. He raises a hand, barely a wave, and hopes it conveys an “I’m fine.” It probably just looks stupid. But their frowns disappear at least and they wave back as they continue running.

Meanwhile, Mr. Boccia has pulled out a bottle of water and a cereal bar from his bag and he is handing them to Martino.

“Drink and eat, and then you’re going to the nurse, hopefully that was just low blood sugar and it’ll right itself out.”

He watches Martino drink some water before he resumes his questioning.

“Everything okay at home?”

And everything is so definitely not okay that Martino can only shrug.

“Fine, you don’t have to talk to me, but you gotta eat, okay? And whatever’s keeping you from eating, you should probably talk to somebody about it ‘cause it’s not going to get better on its own. Okay?”

He repeats the word while looking at him straight in the eye like he means it, so Martino has no choice but to answer.

“Okay.”

“Yeah, don’t just say that to shut me up. You’re feeling better?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Good.”

Mr. Boccia looks at the group of students, then back at Martino before he calls out,

“Garau! Come over here.”

Giovanni immediately detaches himself from the group to join them, looking between his friend and the teacher.

“Yes, sir?”

“If you don’t want to run, how about you walk this one over to the nurse?”

“Sure.”

“And then come back, I’m not giving you free pass to skip.”

The teacher squeezes Martino’s shoulder.

“When you feel up to it, you’re free to go. And eat something. Bodies need food to work.”

“Okay.”

Mr. Boccia heads back to the group, leaving Giovanni watching as Martino finishes eating. Martino almost wishes his head was spinning again so he could avoid facing his friend just a little bit longer. But Gio takes a seat next to him.

“Are you okay?” He asks, and Martino chooses to believe he is only referring to him almost passing out and not to the past few weeks or even months.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Boccia said it's probably just low blood sugar.”

Giovanni nods and if he was expecting more, he doesn’t push.

“You want to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Martino replies, standing up slowly to test the waters.

His legs seem able to carry him and nothing spins, so he heads toward the door and Giovanni follows. As soon as they are out of the room, Martino feels like he can no longer ignore everything between them and he turns to his best friend,

“Are _you_ okay? You didn’t hurt yourself… when you fell?”

Giovanni seems surprised that he tackles the subject willingly but he responds in his usual casual manner.

“No, I’m fine. You’re not that strong, man.”

He says it to alleviate the tension, but it just reminds Martino of everything that happened and he is hit by a fresh wave of guilt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“No, I know,” Giovanni simply replies, quietly encouraging.

“And about Elia, too. That wasn’t his fault or yours. It’s just…”

But they’re almost at the nurse’s office and there is too much to tell and to ask forgiveness for, and he still doesn’t know how to start telling Gio about any of it.

“Hey, that’s okay, man. But you know, we’re not mad at you, not even Elia. We’re just worried. So if you need to talk about whatever is bothering you, you can tell us.”

Martino nods, not quite able to meet Gio’s eyes. But he knows he’s right and he needs to find a way to tell him. Giovanni claps him on the back.

“We’re here and I have to go back. But anytime you want. And Boccia’s right, you should really eat something.”

He hesitates for a second before he adds,

“See you after class?”

Martino smiles and nods, a weight lifting off his shoulder and a rush of affection for Gio sweeping through him. Giovanni smiles in answer and when he turns from him to head back to class, Martino may be left in the empty hallway but for the first time in three days, he doesn't feel quite so alone.


	3. Trophies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elia sees Gio's [IG story](http://solo-silenzio.tumblr.com/post/180414697642/from-giovannis-ig-story-trophies) after "Effettivamente". He has questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, these are all happening in their own little alternate universes, so the past chapters did not happen here. This one follows canon and the hiatus.

Elia is not angry when he sees Gio's story, although he may have expected to be. But he's surprised and confused. Maybe a little annoyed, but curiosity definitely overshadows the rest. So he messages Gio.

"Hey, you're hanging out with Marti?"

He stares at his phone for a couple of minutes but when no answer comes right away, he puts it down and begrudgingly returns to his homework. It takes about an hour before he gets a notification.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing, is he talking to us again?" He replies immediately.

Elia has not spoken to Martino in two weeks. After leaving them all shell-shocked outside the club, he vanished for a week, supposedly with the flu, which may be true but Elia has his doubts and Giovanni definitely did not believe him either. He has been back in school for a week now, but keeping to himself. Gio apparently spoke to him a few times on the bus, but even so, he went from class to class with his head down and more often than not, his hood up, which is definitely unusual. Elia saw a couple of girls from the radio approach him a few times, but he always seemed in a rush to end the conversation.

And yeah, he's been worried. Martino doesn't look good. He looks like he hasn't gotten over whatever real or fake illness he had or maybe like something heavy is weighing down on him. He doesn't talk to anyone and on Thursday, he even snapped at their Latin teacher, which left the whole classroom stunned

But Elia is only human and if Martino is ignoring them, so be it. He wants an explanation, maybe an apology, but he won’t beg for it and he won't make the first move. And now Gio, who kept telling them to give Martino space, that he probably had a good reason for lying through his teeth, for missing Luca's birthday or pushing his best friend to the ground, Gio apparently spent his Friday afternoon playing FIFA with him. So yeah, Elia's at the very least curious.

"I don't know, he talked to me."

Of course, Gio has been Martino's best friend since childhood, so it shouldn't sting, but it does a little.

"And did he explain why he pushed you?"

It takes a few minutes for an answer to arrive.

"He's going through some shit, okay? He wasn't himself, even you know that."

He can't help it, he sends his reply before he can really think about it, because it’s been weeks of Marti being weird and Elia wants to understand.

"Yeah, is it his mom or his dad this time? Because that's bullshit, even you know that."

If he feels a little guilty at the dig, he pushes it aside for now.

"It's not for me to say."

And right after that: "But trust me."

Elia doesn't know what to do with that and he hasn't gotten any of the answers he was hoping for. Things have been weird without Marti hanging out with them and they all hate it, so if Marti talking to and playing some FIFA with Gio is the beginning of a kind of return to normalcy, maybe he should just take it.

"Okay."

And then, because he doesn't want to end this conversation on a bitter note, he adds,

"At least he can still kick your ass at FIFA, so it can't be that bad."


	4. Bracciangeles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martino posts [a photo on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq42PAyhi_G/) and Eva sends a message.

Martino is finally home, alone in his bedroom after spending fifteen minutes trying to field his mother’s questions about the weekend. Yes, the guys say hi, no, we weren’t too cold, which is a lie but she doesn’t need to worry, yes, we had a great time, no, we drove back, yes, with a new friend. No, you don’t know him.

Now, the quiet of his room surrounds him and it is almost oppressive after two days in close quarters with his friends and then Niccolò. Nico’s absence weights heaviest on him of course, but at least this time he knows he will see him tomorrow. He will be at school, and Marti will be able to talk to him, touch him, maybe even kiss him now that their secret is out anyway. Now that he won’t have to wonder about Maddalena.

Martino sits down on his bed and checks his phone. He laughs at the Contrabbandieri bombarding him with innuendos immediately after Niccolò had dropped them off and Martino was finally alone with him for far too little time. There is Filippo casually asking how he’s doing and if he wants to hang out, which brings a fond smile to his face. Then, there are the messages that came after he posted that picture on Instagram. Sana innocently asking him questions about their next project that he knows he has already answered, messages from Silvia which he ignores completely to open the next one, Eva’s.

“So, you’re not together, huh?”

There’s a second message containing just an emoji, as if she wanted to make sure he knew she was teasing.

“What are you talking about you? I’m just hanging out with my friends."

“Sure. Your friends.” The answer comes immediately, closely followed by another message.

“I’m happy for you, Marti.”

Martino looks at the message for a few seconds, and if asked, he would be hard-pressed to tell why the simple sentence makes him suddenly emotional. He thinks about denying it some more, about not answering. Then he remembers that Eva has been nothing but understanding and patient, even after she found out he had sabotaged her relationship, after she probably understood why he did it, after she realized exactly how many lies he had told. And he thinks maybe honesty should be the way to go for once.

“Thank you. I'm happy, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my red-haired kids.  
> Also, I suck at all things social media and technology but I tried.


	5. When?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of all the information they’ve just learned, Giovanni’s biggest takeaway from their session with Dr. Spera probably shouldn’t be that Martino was already acquainted with the school psychologist. But it is. Because it’s news to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of these stopped being relevant a long time ago, but do I care? Apparently not.

During their last class of the day, Giovanni cannot focus on anything. By all appearances, he looks like he’s listening to the teacher, making notes, like a picture of the perfect student that he’s never been. But even though he acts automatically, he would be quite incapable of repeating what the teacher just said or even what he’s just written. His brain just keeps going over new information again and again. Psychotic episodes, borderline, Martino alone in Milan, Niccolò not being in school, treatments, a normal life. And one sentence oddly enough sticks out over the heavy, important facts they’ve just learned. Maybe because it’s easier to wrap his mind around it for now. “I told you you could trust your friends.” But when? The words had escaped him then and they are still at the forefront of his mind now. And because Martino has been in a sharing mood and trying to let his friends in lately, he decides that he should try his luck.

So when they find themselves outside the gates of the school and Elia and Luca start making plans to go to the Baretto, Giovanni turns to Martino.

“Actually, I have to get home. Want to come with?”

Elia interrupts himself in the middle of a sentence, and they all turn to Gio.

“You’re not coming?”

“No, I’m really behind on homework, man,” Gio replies, not quite lying because he definitely is.

And he looks at Martino questioningly. Martino looks back like he understands Gio is trying to communicate something, he just doesn’t know what.

“Yeah, I should probably get some stuff done, too.”

Elia and Luca exchange a glance.

“But… homework? That can wait, right?”

“Nah, another time, okay?”

Elia looks between Giovanni and Martino and a frown almost forms on his face but he lets it go. If there’s one thing they’ve all learned lately, it is that some stuff needs to discussed privately and in its own time.

“Sure. You’re in, Lucchi?”

“I’m going to destroy you,” Luca immediately answers, schooling his features into as aggressive a scowl as he can muster.

“Yeah, you wish.”

Now that they’re focused on the bar again, Giovanni takes the opportunity to say a quick goodbye and head to the bus stop, Martino in tow.

They have to run the last few meters to the bus, but they manage to get in and luck must be on their side, because they find two empty seats next to each other at the back. Now that he’s alone with Martino, Gio is no longer sure how he's supposed to broach the subject. Whatever he talked about with Dr. Spera is private and confidential and up to Marti to share. If he worries about his best friend, that’s his problem and he doesn’t want to force a confession out of him. He’s mulling his options over, trying to find a way into this conversation when Martino’s voice startles him out of his thoughts.

“Everything okay?”

“What?”

Martino is looking at him curiously, his head tilted to the side.

“Is everything okay? I’m guessing you didn’t really want to do homework, but you wanted to talk about something, right?”

“No, I wanted _your_ help with trig.”

Martino laughs but only for a second before the curious expression is back on his face. “Is it about Eva?”

Giovanni sits up. “Eva?”

“Yeah, I mean, she was making out with Canegallo at Covitti’s party and they haven’t been that discreet at school lately, so I thought, maybe, that was what you wanted to talk about.”

Giovanni swallows the hurt, he’s not blind, he had noticed Eva was moving on but he wasn’t exactly trying to think about it any more than he had to.

“No, no, that’s not… I actually wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh, okay.”

Giovanni likes to tell himself that he knows Martino by heart, and even though he missed out on some pretty crucial information lately, he’s almost positive Martino looks relieved.

“Of course, you don’t have to tell me, but before, when we were in Spera’s office…”

Again, he tries to find the best way to put it so he doesn’t sound like he’s complaining or trying to make Martino feel guilty. Martino, who is patiently waiting for him to get his act together, expression unguarded with no trace of the tension that was present when he came out to either Gio or Elia and Luca. In the end, that's what convinces Gio to just go for it.

“You’ve been to see him before? He said… he said he told you to trust your friends.”

Martino looks down at his lap, and for a moment, Giovanni is terrified that he’s messed up. But Martino looks back up and sighs.

“Yeah, once. That was after I missed school for a week. I couldn’t sleep and we weren’t talking, I felt guilty for what happened at the party, and then there was everything with Nico… So I went to ask if he could get me some kind of sleeping pills.”

“You think he’s allowed to do that?”

“I’m not really sure, actually. But I think maybe I was just trying to find a way to make everything better.”

Giovanni nods. What happened that week would have been enough to make anybody crack under the pressure, but Martino had already been fraying at the edges for who-knows how long.

“Anyway, he said I should talk to somebody. He asked if I had friends, you know.”

Because of the way he says it, something occurs to Giovanni in that second.

“Wait, when was that? Was that before we played FIFA at your place?”

Martino nods with a fond smile.

“Yeah. I guess he knew what he was talking about, actually.”

“And you think he knows what he’s talking about for Nico?”

Martino’s expression falls a little at the mention of Niccolò, and Giovanni feels for how much he’s hurting and how confused he must have been since Friday.

“Probably.”

Martino’s fiddling with his bag in his lap and he looks up at Gio again.

“Gio, I didn’t think Maddalena could be lying. I didn't know anything about his disorder and they’ve known each other for so long, I thought she must know what she was talking about. And he just ran off in the middle of the night. And he said he had broken up with her but then they were kissing again. And I didn’t know what was going on and it really sucked.”

There’s no way to give Martino a hug without making it supremely uncomfortable for both of them, sat as they are next to each other and bundled up in their winter clothes, so Giovanni just grabs his shoulder instead.

“Of course, you believed her. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like.”

Martino nods with a sigh of relief, but there is still something sad lingering in his eyes.

“But I think you gotta talk to Nico, Marti. He’s the only one who can explain.”

“Yeah.”

They’re almost at their stop now and the mood has turned much too heavy for Giovanni’s taste, he doesn’t want to see Martino sad again so he tries to change the subject.

“So the first time you went to see Spera, was he as weird as he was today?”

The corners of Martino’s lips twitch.

“Worse, Gio. So much worse. He was barefoot and he shoved celery in my face."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, Marti was doing his best and I will defend him until my last breath.


End file.
